“Strengthening human rights and fueling sustainable economic growth in developing countries both depend on empowering women and working toward gender equality. Eliminating hunger, mitigating the effects of global climate change, and drastically reducing maternal mortality relies on bolstering the role women play in their societies. Secretary Clinton and I are both strongly committed to building the vision of gender equality and female empowerment laid out in the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review.

U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Dr. Rajiv Shah, Peace Corps Director Aaron Williams and U.S. Global Malaria Coordinator Rear Admiral Tim Ziemer, announced an enhanced collaborative effort to reduce the burden of malaria in Africa.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Shipments of U.S. government in-kind emergency food assistance, part of the U.S. government humanitarian response to the crisis in Libya, have arrived in the region. These food commodities support humanitarian food distributions reaching up to 600,000 people in Libya.

Since the beginning of the crisis in Libya, the U.S. Government has robustly supported international and non-governmental organizations meeting humanitarian needs in Libya and those who have fled across its borders, and is providing $47 million in humanitarian assistance.

Each year, World Malaria Day is observed to call attention to the disease and to mobilize action to combat it. On this occasion, the President's Malaria Initiative (PMI), led by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented together with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), releases its fifth annual report(pdf, 4.4mb) which describes the role and contributions of the U.S. Government in the effort to reduce the burden of malaria in Africa.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - USAID will launch a new report on food aid quality that will improve the nutritional quality of food assistance to better meet the nutritional needs of vulnerable populations overseas. The recommendations could result in the most far-reaching nutritional quality improvements to U.S. food aid since the introduction of fortified blended foods in 1966.

NASA and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) have agreed to expand their joint efforts to overcome international development challenges such as food security, climate change, and energy and environmental management.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - On April 26th, USAID Administrator Shah, Peace Corps Director Aaron S. Williams, and U.S. Global Malaria Coordinator Rear Admiral Tim Ziemer will announce a partnership between the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) and the Peace Corps. The partnership will center on Peace Corps volunteers who, in close collaboration with PMI resident advisors, will support national malaria control programs and expand malaria activities into hard to reach communities throughout Africa.

“Today, USAID is celebrating Earth Day and the U.N.-designated International Year of Forests by building on more than 30 years of forest conservation efforts. Recognizing the key role these ecosystems play in sustainable development and global carbon storage, USAID addresses threats to forests through a multi-faceted approach: improving natural resources management; enabling legal, policy, and institutional development; expanding market access for sustainable natural resource-based products; and working to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.

Today, Michael Greene was sworn in as the new Mission Director for Azerbaijan for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Counselor Hilda "Bambi" Arellano administered the oath.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) have partnered on a unique event to highlight the impacts of global climate change on the Himalayas. The Green Hiker-Green Planet Campaign, which includes a 4-day trek through the Langtang area in Nepal's Sacred Himalayan Landscape, brings together individuals from a variety of sectors to increase awareness and spur joint action on conservation, climate change advocacy and preparedness.

“While we are disappointed in the news from the FEM-PreP study, funded by PEPFAR through USAID, other research on pre-exposure prophylaxis is underway. This is the nature of scientific research; some failures lead to other successes. We will continue to work with our colleagues in the scientific community to monitor the results of these and other research studies, in the hope that they will produce new tools for HIV/AIDS prevention.”

he United States of America and the State of Qatar signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) today regarding Cooperation to Enhance Global Food Security. The MOU was signed by Dr. Rajiv Shah, Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and Dr. Khalid Al-Attiya, Minister of State for International Cooperation.

In a speech at Ahfad University for Women in Omdurman, Sudan, on April 9, USAID Deputy Administrator Donald Steinberg announced a new USAID global grant program to increase the substantive involvement of women in peace processes. Grants of up to $2 million each, totaling up to $14 million, may be made available for projects that directly address the objectives of UN Security Council Resolution 1325, which calls for supporting the essential role of women in all aspects of peace and security, recognizing their leadership in peacemaking, and ending sexual violence in conflict.

Mark Lopes, USAID Deputy Assistant Administrator for Latin America and the Caribbean met today with the Chilean International Development Agency (AgCI). The talks were aimed at implementing the recently-signed Memorandum of Understanding to advance trilateral cooperation in Latin America and the Caribbean.

During his April 4-6 visit to Nicaragua, USAID Deputy Assistant Administrator for Latin America and the Caribbean, Mark Lopes, helped celebrate the Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement's (CAFTA-DR) 5th Anniversary. Over 300 business leaders, producers, small business owners and government officials attended the event, which was co-sponsored by USAID and the INCAE Business School.

“Today, April 7, the world commemorates World Health Day. This year’s theme focuses on combating the steadily growing public health threat posed by antimicrobial drug resistance -- a growing problem with implications for both national and global security. Drug resistance also threatens to reverse global health gains by making currently available first-line medicines less effective.

U.S. and Kenyan officials today congratulated 262 graduates of AFRICA LEAD, a continent-wide program that is training agriculture leaders to implement regional and country agriculture investment plans.